U.S. patent application number 12/994134 was filed with the patent office on 2011-03-24 for advertisement distribution system, advertisement distribution device, and advertisement distribution method.
This patent application is currently assigned to RAKUTEN, INC.. Invention is credited to Yasuhiro Kamiyama, Masahiro Morita.
Application Number | 20110071906 12/994134 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 41721005 |
Filed Date | 2011-03-24 |
United States Patent
Application |
20110071906 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Kamiyama; Yasuhiro ; et
al. |
March 24, 2011 |
Advertisement Distribution System, Advertisement Distribution
Device, and Advertisement Distribution Method
Abstract
A travel support server (5) distributes a first e-mail to a user
terminal device (2-k). The first e-mail has a link to the URL in
which transfer function to a web page of a tourism resource
corresponding to the user position in a travel destination and user
information are embedded. An advertisement server (6) distributes a
second e-mail to the user terminal device (2-k). The second e-mail
has advertisement information which is provided to the user
identified by selecting the link in the first e-mail.
Inventors: |
Kamiyama; Yasuhiro; (Tokyo,
JP) ; Morita; Masahiro; (Tokyo, JP) |
Assignee: |
RAKUTEN, INC.
Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo
JP
|
Family ID: |
41721005 |
Appl. No.: |
12/994134 |
Filed: |
July 31, 2009 |
PCT Filed: |
July 31, 2009 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/JP2009/003655 |
371 Date: |
November 22, 2010 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
705/14.66 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 30/0269 20130101;
G06Q 30/02 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/14.66 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 30/00 20060101
G06Q030/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Aug 28, 2008 |
JP |
2008-219558 |
Claims
1. An advertisement distribution system which is provided with a
user terminal device accessible to a network, an advertisement
database registered with a plurality of advertisement information,
and an advertisement server configured to distribute advertisement
information extracted from the advertisement database to the user
terminal device via the network, comprising: a user information
database configured to store user information; a reservation
information database configured to store travel reservation
information of the user in association with the user information; a
tourism resource database registered with a plurality of tourism
resource information; and a travel support server configured to
extract tourism resource information from the tourism resource
database, the travel support server is provided with a tourism
resource information extraction unit configured to extract the
tourism resource information in association with a position of the
user at a predefined time specified from a travel schedule
contained in the travel reservation information stored in the
reservation information database from the tourism resource database
according to location information contained in the tourism resource
information; an embedded URL generation unit configured to generate
an embedded URL embedded with a transfer function to the URL of a
web page contained in the tourism resource information extracted by
the tourism resource information extraction unit and user
identification information contained in the user information; a
first e-mail generation unit configured to generate a first e-mail
having a link function to the embedded URL generated by the
embedded URL generation unit; and a first e-mail distribution unit
configured to distribute the first e-mail generated by the first
e-mail generation unit to the user terminal device, the
advertisement server is provided with a user specification unit
configured to specify the user according to the user identification
information extracted from the embedded URL when the link function
of the first e-mail distributed to the user terminal device is
operated through selection; an advertisement information extraction
unit configured to extract advertisement information to be provided
to the user specified by the user specification unit from the
advertisement database according to the selected tourism resource
information; a second e-mail generation unit configured to
generated a second e-mail containing the advertisement information
extracted by the advertisement information extraction unit; and a
second e-mail distribution unit configured to distribute the second
e-mail generated by the second e-mail generation unit to the user
terminal device of the user specified by the user specification
unit.
2. The advertisement distribution system according to claim 1 is
further provided with a travel merchandise database registered with
a plurality of travel merchandise information; and a travel
reservation server configured to provide reservable travel
merchandise information extracted from the travel merchandise
database to the user terminal device via the network, extract the
user information and generate travel reservation information in
association with the user according to a response from the user
terminal device, wherein the travel reservation server is
configured to register the user information in the user information
database and the travel reservation information in the reservation
information database.
3. The advertisement distribution system according to claim 1,
wherein the advertisement information extraction unit is configured
to extract advertisement information having a specific distance to
the location information of the selected tourism resource
information.
4. An advertisement distribution device which is connected by a
user terminal device via a network, and is provided with an
advertisement information storing unit stored with a plurality of
advertisement information and an advertisement distribution unit
configured to distribute advertisement information extracted from
the advertisement information storing unit to the user terminal
device, comprising: a user information storing unit configured to
store user information; a reservation information storing unit
configured to store travel reservation information of the user in
association with the user information; a tourism resource storing
unit preliminarily stored with a plurality of tourism resource
information; a tourism resource information extraction unit
configured to extract the tourism resource information in
association with a position of the user at a predefined time
specified from a travel schedule contained in the travel
reservation information stored in the reservation information
storing unit from the tourism resource storing unit according to
location information contained in the tourism resource information;
an embedded URL generation unit configured to generate an embedded
URL embedded with a transfer function to the URL of a web page
contained in the tourism resource information extracted by the
tourism resource extraction unit and user identification
information contained in the user information; a first e-mail
generation unit configured to generate a first e-mail having a link
function to the embedded URL generated by the embedded URL
generation unit; and a first e-mail distribution unit configured to
distribute the first e-mail generated by the first e-mail
generation unit to the user terminal device, a user specification
unit configured to specify the user according to the user
identification information extracted from the embedded URL when the
link function of the first e-mail distributed to the user terminal
device is operated through selection; an advertisement information
extraction unit configured to extract advertisement information to
be provided to the user specified by the user specification unit
from the advertisement information storing unit according to the
selected tourism resource information; a second e-mail generation
unit configured to generate a second e-mail containing the
advertisement information extracted by the advertisement
information extraction unit; and a second e-mail distribution unit
configured to distribute the second e-mail generated by the second
e-mail generation unit to the user terminal device of the user
specified by the user specification unit.
5. The advertisement distribution device according to claim 4 is
further provided with a travel merchandise storing unit
preliminarily stored with a plurality of travel merchandise
information; and a travel reservation unit configured to provide
reservable travel merchandise information extracted from the travel
merchandise storing unit to the user terminal device via the
network, extract the user information and generate travel
reservation information in association with the user according to a
response from the user terminal device, wherein the travel
reservation unit is configured to register the user information in
the user information storing unit and the travel reservation
information in the reservation information storing unit.
6. The advertisement distribution device according to claim 4,
wherein the advertisement information extraction unit is configured
to extract advertisement information having a specific distance to
the location information of the selected tourism resource
information.
7. An advertisement distribution method configured to distribute
advertisement information to a user terminal device connected via a
network, comprising: a tourism resource extraction step of
extracting tourism resource information associated with a user
position at a predefined time specified from a travel schedule
contained in reservation information stored in a reservation
information storing unit from a tourism resource storing unit
preliminarily stored with a plurality of tourism resource
information according to location information contained in the
tourism resource information with reference to user information
stored in a user information storing unit and travel reservation
information of the user in association with the user information
preliminarily stored in a reservation information storing unit; an
embedded URL generation step of generating an embedded URL embedded
with a transfer function to the URL of a web page contained in the
tourism resource information extracted by the tourism resource
information extraction step and user identification information; a
first e-mail generation step of generating a first e-mail having a
link function to the embedded URL generated by the embedded URL
generation step; and a first e-mail distribution step of
distributing the first e-mail generated by the first e-mail
generation step to the user terminal device, a user specification
step of specifying the user according to the user identification
information extracted from the embedded URL when the link function
of the first e-mail distributed to the user terminal device is
operated through selection; an advertisement information extraction
step of extracting advertisement information to be provided to the
user specified by the user specification step from the
advertisement information storing unit stored with a plurality of
advertisement information; a second e-mail generation step of
generating a second e-mail containing the advertisement information
extracted by the advertisement information extraction step; and a
second e-mail distribution step of distributing the second e-mail
generated by the second e-mail generation step to the user terminal
device of the user specified by the user specification step.
8. The advertisement distribution method according to claim 7
further comprises a travel reservation step of providing reservable
travel merchandise information extracted from the travel
merchandise storing unit preliminarily stored with a plurality of
travel merchandise information to the user terminal device via the
network, extracting the user information and generating reservation
information in association with the user according to a response
from the user terminal device; a user information registration step
of registering the user information extracted by the travel
reservation step in the user information storing unit; and a
reservation information registration step of registering the
reservation information generated by the travel reservation step in
the reservation information storing unit, wherein the travel
reservation step, the user information registration step and the
reservation information registration step are performed prior to
the tourism resource extraction step.
9. The advertisement distribution method according to claim 7,
wherein the advertisement information extraction step is configured
to extract advertisement information having a specific distance to
the location information of the selected tourism resource
information.
Description
PRIORITY CLAIM
[0001] The present application is based on and claims the priority
benefit of Japanese Patent Application 2008-219558 filed on Aug.
28, 2008, the contents of which are incorporated herein by
reference in its entirety.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] The present invention relates to an advertisement
distribution system configured to distribute advertisements to a
user terminal device connected to a network, an advertisement
distribution device, and an advertisement distribution method.
[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0005] Hitherto, there has been known a system in which a user to
performs accommodation reservation of an accommodation facility
from a terminal device connected to a network such as an internet
network on the basis of information on a web page or the like
provided by a web server (for example, refer to Japanese Patent
Laid-open No. 2002-236833).
[0006] In recent years, sending and receiving e-mails and browsing
web pages have been commonly performed on a portable terminal
device such as a mobile phone. Even in a travel destination, a user
can obtain various types of tourism information easily. Thereby,
there has been disclosed a system in which a user preliminarily
stores personal data containing a travel schedule and the like in a
travel support server and the system managing the travel support
server sends tourism information or the like of the travel
destination at predefined time intervals to the portable terminal
device according to position information stored in the travel
schedule or sent from a portable terminal device with GPS function
(for example, refer to Japanese Patent Laid-open No.
2003-50846).
[0007] According thereto, it enables the user to easily obtain
information such as a tourism facility or a restaurant corresponded
to a time and a location in the travel destination, supports the
user's action in the travel destination, and improves advertising
effect of the tourism facility, the restaurant or the like.
[0008] However, it is impossible for the abovementioned system to
select the optimum information according to the needs of the user,
and thereby, information to be provided to the user is not
completely refined, and as a result thereof, most of the
information is not suitable to the needs of the user. Thus, the
user has to select desired information from a large amount of
information sent to the portable terminal device, which makes the
user feel troublesome and inconvenient to use the system. Further,
when information of a restaurant or the like in which the user has
no interest is provided, the CTR (Click Through Rate) thereof may
be decreased.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0009] The present invention has been accomplished in view of the
aforementioned problems, and it is therefore an object of the
present invention to provide an advertisement distribution system,
an advertisement distribution device and an advertisement
distribution method which can refine with certainty useful
advertisement information to be provided through distribution to a
user traveling in a travel destination without using GPS function
installed in a portable terminal device so as to enable the user to
easily obtain the advertisement information meeting the user's
needs and offer a high advertising effect to an advertiser.
[0010] To attain an object described above according to the present
invention, there is provided an advertisement distribution system
which is provided with a user terminal device accessible to a
network, an advertisement database registered with a plurality of
advertisement information, and an advertisement server configured
to distribute advertisement information extracted from the
advertisement database to the user terminal device via the network.
The advertisement distribution system of the present invention
comprises: a user information database configured to store user
information; a reservation information database configured to store
travel reservation information of the user in association with the
user information; a tourism resource database registered with a
plurality of tourism resource information; and a travel support
server configured to extract tourism resource information from the
tourism resource database, the travel support server is provided
with a tourism resource information extraction unit configured to
extract the tourism resource information in association with a
position of the user at a predefined time specified from a travel
schedule contained in the travel reservation information stored in
the reservation information database from the tourism resource
database according to location information contained in the tourism
resource information; an embedded URL generation unit configured to
generate an embedded URL embedded with a transfer function to the
URL of a web page contained in the tourism resource information
extracted by the tourism resource information extraction unit and
user identification information contained in the user information;
a first e-mail generation unit configured to generate a first
e-mail having a link function to the embedded URL generated by the
embedded URL generation unit; and a first e-mail distribution unit
configured to distribute the first e-mail generated by the first
e-mail generation unit to the user terminal device, the
advertisement server is provided with a user specification unit
configured to specify the user according to the user identification
information extracted from the embedded URL when the link function
of the first e-mail distributed to the user terminal device is
operated through selection; an advertisement information extraction
unit configured to extract advertisement information to be provided
to the user specified by the user specification unit from the
advertisement database according to the selected tourism resource
information; a second e-mail generation unit configured to generate
a second e-mail containing the advertisement information extracted
by the advertisement information extraction unit; and a second
e-mail distribution unit configured to distribute the second e-mail
generated by the second e-mail generation unit to the user terminal
device of the user specified by the user specification unit.
[0011] According to the advertisement distribution system of the
present invention, the first e-mail is distributed by the first
e-mail distribution unit of the travel support server to the user
terminal device of a user in the travel destination, and
thereafter, the second e-mail is distributed thereto by the second
e-mail distribution unit of the advertisement server. The travel
support server is provided with the embedded URL generation unit
configured to generate an embedded URL embedded with a transfer
function to the URL of a web page contained in the tourism resource
information and user identification information contained in the
user information. The URL of a web page contained in the tourism
resource information is stored in the tourism resource database and
is extracted by the tourism resource information extraction unit.
The tourism resource information extraction unit specifies the
tourism resource information in association with a position of the
user at a predefined time. In other words, the actions of a user in
the travel destination can be specified by referring to the travel
schedule contained in the travel reservation information stored in
the reservation information database. The first e-mail generated by
the first e-mail generation unit is offered with the link function
to the embedded URL generated by the embedded URL generation unit,
and the first e-mail is distributed by the first e-mail
distribution unit to the user terminal device of the user in the
travel destination.
[0012] When the user operates through selection the link function
of the first e-mail distributed to the user terminal device, the
web page of the tourism resource is sent to the user terminal
device by the transfer function of the embedded URL. Meanwhile, the
user specification unit extracts the user identification
information embedded in the embedded URL and specifies the user.
Thereby, it can be confirmed that the user is traveling according
to the travel schedule, and the advertisement information
extraction unit in the advertisement server can refine with
certainty advertisement information that should be provided to the
user according to information such as the location or time of the
tourism resource selected by the user and extract it from the
advertisement database. Thereafter, the second e-mail generation
unit generates the second e-mail containing the advertisement
information extracted by the advertisement information extraction
unit. The second e-mail distribution unit distributes the second
e-mail to the user terminal device of the specified user; thereby,
the optimum advertisement information can be provided to the user
by the second e-mail. As a result thereof, the user can obtain
information meeting the needs thereof from the advertisement
information contained in the second e-mail, and the advertiser can
have the CTR of an advertisement provided by the second e-mail
improved.
[0013] It is preferable that the advertisement distribution system
of the present invention is further provided with a travel
merchandise database registered with a plurality of travel
merchandise information; and a travel reservation server configured
to provide reservable travel merchandise information extracted from
the travel merchandise database to the user terminal device via the
network, extract the user information and generate travel
reservation information in association with the user according to a
response from the user terminal device, wherein the travel
reservation server is configured to register the user information
in the user information database and the travel reservation
information in the reservation information database. Owing to the
travel reservation server, the travel reservation information and
the user information of the user can be extracted effectively and
certainly in conjunction with the reservation of travel merchandise
offered to the user terminal device.
[0014] It is further preferable that the advertisement information
extraction unit in the advertisement distribution system of the
present invention is configured to extract advertisement
information having a specific distance to the location information
of the selected tourism resource information. According thereto,
the advertisement information is associated with the location of
the selected tourism resource, which enables useful information to
be provided to the user.
[0015] The present invention provides an advertisement distribution
device which is connected by a user terminal device via a network,
and is provided with an advertisement storing unit stored with a
plurality of advertisement information and an advertisement
information distribution unit configured to distribute
advertisement information extracted from the advertisement
information storing unit to the user terminal device. The
advertisement distribution device of the present invention
comprises: a user information storing unit configured to store user
information; a reservation information storing unit configured to
store travel reservation information of the user in association
with the user information; a tourism resource storing unit
preliminarily stored with a plurality of tourism resource
information; a tourism resource information extraction unit
configured to extract the tourism resource information in
association with a position of the user at a predefined time
specified from a travel schedule contained in the travel
reservation information stored in the reservation information
storing unit from the tourism resource storing unit according to
location information contained in the tourism resource information;
an embedded URL generation unit configured to generate an embedded
URL embedded with a transfer function to the URL of a web page
contained in the tourism resource information extracted by the
tourism resource extraction unit and user identification
information contained in the user information; a first e-mail
generation unit configured to generate a first e-mail having a link
function to the embedded URL generated by the embedded URL
generation unit; a first e-mail distribution unit configured to
distribute the first e-mail generated by the first e-mail
generation unit to the user terminal device; a user specification
unit configured to specify the user according to the user
identification information extracted from the embedded URL when the
link function of the first e-mail distributed to the user terminal
device is operated through selection; an advertisement information
extraction unit configured to extract advertisement information to
be provided to the user specified by the user specification unit
from the advertisement information storing unit according to the
selected tourism resource information; a second e-mail generation
unit configured to generate a second e-mail containing the
advertisement information extracted by the advertisement
information extraction unit; and a second e-mail distribution unit
configured to distribute the second e-mail generated by the second
e-mail generation unit to the user terminal device of the user
specified by the user specification unit.
[0016] According to the advertisement distribution device of the
present invention, the first e-mail is distributed by the first
e-mail distribution unit to the user terminal device of a user in
the travel destination, and thereafter, the second e-mail is
distributed thereto by the second e-mail distribution unit. The
advertisement distribution device of the present invention is
provided with a tourism resource information extraction unit, which
enables the tourism resource information to be extracted in
association with a position of the user at a predefined time
specified from a travel schedule contained in the travel
reservation information registered in the reservation information
storing unit from the tourism resource storing unit. The extracted
tourism resource information meets the actions of the user in the
travel destination. The advertisement distribution device of the
present invention is provided with the embedded URL generation unit
and the first e-mail generation unit, thereby, an embedded URL
embedded with a transfer function to the URL of a web page
contained in the tourism resource information and the user
identification information contained in the user information can be
generated, and at the meanwhile, the first e-mail having a link
function to the embedded URL can be generated and distributed to
the user terminal device of a user at the travel destination by the
first e-mail distribution unit. When the user who had received the
first e-mail operates through selection the link function of the
first e-mail distributed to the user terminal device, the web page
of the tourism resource is sent to the user terminal device by the
transfer function of the embedded URL. Meanwhile, the user
identification information embedded in the embedded URL is
extracted by the user specification unit and the user is specified
thereby. In other words, according to the response (operating the
link function through selection) of the user to the distributed
first e-mail, it can be easily confirmed in the advertisement
distribution device that the user is acting according to the travel
schedule. The advertisement information extraction unit refines
advertisement information that should be provided to the user
according to information such as the location or time of the
tourism resource selected by the user and extracts it from the
advertisement information storing unit. Thereafter, the second
e-mail generation unit generates the second e-mail containing the
advertisement information, and the second e-mail is distributed by
the second e-mail distribution unit to the user terminal device of
the user specified by the user specification unit. Thereby, the
optimum advertisement information can be provided to the user by
the second e-mail. As a result thereof, the user can obtain
information meeting the needs thereof from the advertisement
information contained in the second e-mail, and the advertiser can
have the CTR of an advertisement provided by the second e-mail
improved.
[0017] It is preferable that the advertisement distribution device
of the present invention is further provided with a travel
merchandise storing unit preliminarily stored with a plurality of
travel merchandise information; and a travel reservation unit
configured to provide reservable travel merchandise information
extracted from the travel merchandise storing unit to the user
terminal device via the network, extract the user information and
generate travel reservation information in association with the
user according to a response from the user terminal device, wherein
the travel reservation unit is configured to register the user
information in the user information storing unit and the travel
reservation information in the reservation information storing
unit. Owing to the travel reservation unit, the travel merchandise
information can be provided to the user terminal device for travel
reservation and the user information can be extracted effectively
and certainly.
[0018] It is further preferable that the advertisement distribution
device of the present invention the advertisement information
extraction unit is configured to extract advertisement information
having a specific distance to the location information of the
selected tourism resource information. According thereto, the
advertisement information is associated with the location of the
selected tourism resource, which enables useful information to be
provided to the user.
[0019] The present invention provides an advertisement distribution
method configured to distribute advertisement information to a user
terminal device connected via a network. The advertisement
distribution method of the present invention comprises: a tourism
resource extraction step of extracting tourism resource information
associated with a user position at a predefined time specified from
a travel schedule contained in reservation information stored in a
reservation information storing unit from a tourism resource
storing unit preliminarily stored with a plurality of tourism
resource information according to location information contained in
the tourism resource information with reference to user information
stored in a user information storing unit and travel reservation
information of the user in association with the user information
preliminarily stored in a reservation information storing unit; an
embedded URL generation step of generating an embedded URL embedded
with a transfer function to the URL of a web page contained in the
tourism resource information extracted by the tourism resource
extraction step and user identification information; a first e-mail
generation step of generating a first e-mail having a link function
to the embedded URL generated by the embedded URL generation step;
and a first e-mail distribution step of distributing the first
e-mail generated by the first e-mail generation step to the user
terminal device, a user specification step of specifying the user
according to the user identification information extracted from the
embedded URL when the link function of the first e-mail distributed
to the user terminal device is operated through selection; an
advertisement information extraction step of extracting
advertisement information to be provided to the user specified by
the user specification step from the advertisement information
storing unit stored with a plurality of advertisement information;
a second e-mail generation step of generating a second e-mail
containing the advertisement information extracted by the
advertisement information extraction step; and a second e-mail
distribution step of distributing the second e-mail generated by
the second e-mail generation step to the user terminal device of
the user specified by the user specification step.
[0020] According to the advertisement distribution method of the
present invention, the first e-mail is distributed by the first
e-mail distribution step to the user terminal device of a user in
the travel destination, and thereafter, the second e-mail is
distributed thereto by the second e-mail distribution step. In the
first e-mail, an embedded URL generated by the embedded URL
generation step has a link function tagged by the first e-mail
generation step. The web page URL with the embedded URL is
contained in the tourism resource information stored in the tourism
resource storing unit, and the tourism resource information is
extracted from the tourism resource storing unit by the tourism
resource extraction step. In the tourism resource extraction step,
the tourism resource information associated with a user position at
a predefined time specified from a travel schedule contained in
reservation information stored in a reservation information storing
unit is extracted from the tourism resource storing unit
preliminarily according to location information contained in the
tourism resource information.
[0021] After the first e-mail has been distributed by the first
e-mail distribution step to the user terminal device of a user in
the travel destination, when the user is traveling according to the
travel schedule of the travel reservation information and the
information desired by the user is sent by the first e-mail, the
link function of the first e-mail is operated through selection by
the user. Thus, when the link function to the tourism resource
information distributed by the first e-mail is selected, it means
that the user is traveling according to the travel schedule and the
information desired by the user has been distributed by the first
e-mail. According to the selection of the link function, the user
identification information embedded in the embedded URL is
extracted by the user specification step to specify the user.
Thereafter, the advertisement information to be provided to the
user is extracted from the advertisement information storing unit
by the advertisement information extraction step. Herein, the link
function of the first e-mail is selected by the user, and the user
is specified by the user specification step; thereby, the position
or time of the user in the travel destination can be specified,
enabling the advertisement information to be refined with
certainty. Subsequently, the second e-mail containing the refined
advertisement information is generated by the second e-mail
generation step and distributed by the second e-mail distribution
step to the specified user, the user can obtain information meeting
the needs thereof from the advertisement information contained in
the second e-mail, and the advertiser can have the CTR of an
advertisement provided by the second e-mail improved.
[0022] It is preferable that the advertisement distribution method
of the present invention further comprises a travel reservation
step of providing reservable travel merchandise information
extracted from the travel merchandise storing unit preliminarily
stored with a plurality of travel merchandise information to the
user terminal device via the network, extracting the user
information and generating travel reservation information in
association with the user according to a response from the user
terminal device; a user information registration step of
registering the user information extracted by the travel
reservation step in the user information storing unit; and a
reservation information registration step of registering the travel
reservation information generated by the travel reservation step in
the reservation information storing unit, wherein the travel
reservation step, the user information registration step and the
reservation information registration step are performed prior to
the tourism resource extraction step. Owing to the travel
reservation step, the travel reservation information and the user
information of the user can be extracted effectively and certainly
in conjunction with the reservation of travel merchandise offered
to the user terminal device.
[0023] It is further preferable that the advertisement information
extraction step in the advertisement distribution method of the
present invention is configured to extract advertisement
information having a specific distance to the location information
of the selected tourism resource information. According thereto,
the advertisement information is associated with the location of
the selected tourism resource, which enables useful information to
be provided to the user.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0024] FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a schematic
structure of an advertisement distribution system according to an
embodiment of the present invention.
[0025] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic structure
of an advertisement distribution device according to an embodiment
of the present invention.
[0026] FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating contents of
information stored in an accommodation facility database.
[0027] FIG. 4(a) is an explanatory diagram illustrating contents of
information store in a user information database.
[0028] FIG. 4(b) is an explanatory diagram illustrating contents of
information store in a reservation information database.
[0029] FIG. 5 is an explanatory example of reservation records.
[0030] FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating contents of
information store in a tourism resource database.
[0031] FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram illustrating contents of
information store in an advertisement database.
[0032] FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating a procedure performed in
a travel support server and an advertisement server.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0033] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be
described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1
illustrates a schematic structure of an advertisement distribution
system according to the embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the
advertisement distribution system is composed of an advertisement
distribution device 1, a user terminal device 2-k (k=1, 2 . . . n),
and an advertiser terminal device 3-k (k=1, 2 . . . n).
[0034] The advertisement distribution device 1 is composed of a
travel reservation server 4 (travel reservation unit), a travel
support server 5, and an advertisement server 6 (advertisement
distribution unit). The advertisement distribution device 1 is
connected to a network NW such as an internet network. The user
terminal device 2-k and the advertiser terminal device 3-k are
accessible to the network NW through a server such as an internet
service provider. According thereto, the advertisement distribution
device 1, the user terminal device 2-k and the advertiser terminal
device 3-k can perform sending and receiving of data mutually
through the network NW according to, for example, a TCP/IP protocol
(Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) or the like.
[0035] In the example of FIG. 1, there are three functioning
servers 4, 5 and 6 built in the advertisement distribution device
1; however, it is not limited thereto. It is acceptable to dispose
a plurality of servers (namely, the travel reservation server, the
travel support server, and the advertisement server) separately
from the advertisement distribution device 1.
[0036] The user terminal device 2-k and the advertiser terminal
device 3-k, which can be adopted from a personal computer (PC), a
personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile phone or the like
installed with a web browser (software), are configured to display
a web page provided from each of the servers 4, 5 and 6 of the
advertisement distribution device 1 on a display section (for
example, a liquid crystal display or the like), and send and
receive e-mails through the network NW. The present embodiment will
be explained with a mobile phone adopted as the user terminal
device 2-k. In this case, the communication protocol is transferred
by a gateway server which relays the communication between the
internet and a mobile communication network.
[0037] The advertisement distribution device 1 composed of the
travel reservation server 4, the travel support server 5 and the
advertisement server 6, is a server device managed by a provider or
the like of travel merchandise. Specifically, as illustrated in
FIG. 2, the advertisement distribution device 1 is provided with a
communication section 7 which is connected to the network NW and
controls communication between the advertisement distribution
device 1 and the user terminal device 2-k or the advertiser
terminal device 3-k, a storing section 8 (such as a hard disk
drive) which stores an operating system, various programs, data and
the like, a system control section 9 (arithmetic computation
circuit composed of CPU, ROM, RAM and the like) which performs
various arithmetic computations, an input/output interface section
10 which performs interface processing between the storing section
8 and the system control section 9. Furthermore, it is also
acceptable for the advertisement distribution device 1 to have a
drive section capable of retrieving data from a recording medium
such as a flexible disk, a compact disc (CD), a digital versatile
disc (DVD) or the like and recording data or the like on the
recording medium.
[0038] Hereinafter, the storing section 8 will be described in
detail. As illustrated in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, for storing data used
by each of the servers 4, 5 and 6, the storing section 8 is built
with an accommodation facility database 11, a user information
database 12 (user information storing unit), a reservation
information database 13 (reservation information storing unit), a
tourism resource database 14 (tourism resource storing unit), and
an advertisement database 15 (advertisement information storing
unit).
[0039] The accommodation facility database 11 is given as an
example of a travel merchandise database (travel merchandise
storing unit) in the present invention. The accommodation facility
database 11 is stored (registered) with information related to
accommodation facilities. As illustrated in FIG. 3, for each
accommodation facility, data such as accommodation facility ID,
location information (latitude, longitude or the like), check-in
time, check-out time, basic information (name, address, phone
number and the like), room information, accommodation reservation
conditions (unoccupied rooms) and the like are associated so that
each accommodation facility can be distinguished by genre, facility
name or the like thereof.
[0040] As illustrated in FIG. 4(a), the user information database
12 is stored (registered) with, for example, user ID, log-in
password, user name, user address and phone number of the user,
device characteristic number of a mobile phone or the like (or
subscriber number), mail address and the like.
[0041] The reservation information database 13 is stored
(registered) with, for example, a travel schedule or the like
reserved by the user in association with user ID, accommodation
facility ID or the like. As illustrated in FIG. 4(b), the
reservation information database 13 is stored with reservation ID,
user ID, accommodation facility ID, accommodation reservation date,
transportation, embarkation or disembarkation time, embarkation or
disembarkation location and the like. It is further preferable to
register preliminarily genre (property) of information, tourism
resource, restaurant and the like which are desired by the user in
the reservation information database 13. Data registered in the
reservation information database 13 is generated by the travel
reservation server 4 to be described hereinafter. Specifically, as
illustrated in FIG. 5 for example, the travel reservation server 4,
on the basis of various reservation information input from the user
terminal device 2-k, generates a reservation record 16 registered
with user ID (associated with the user information stored in the
user information database 12), flag (used to specify the user,
which will be described later), numbers of adults, numbers of
children, accommodation reservation date, accommodation facility ID
(associated with the accommodation facility information stored in
the accommodation facility database 11), accommodation facility
location, scheduled check-in time, scheduled check-out time,
departure place for outward journey, departure time for outward
journey, departure flight number (in the case of airplane), arrival
place for outward journey, arrival time for outward journey,
departure place for homeward journey, departure time for homeward
journey, arrival flight number (in the case of airplane), arrival
place for homeward journey, arrival time for homeward journey and
the like, and register the reservation record 16 in the reservation
information database 13. It is acceptable to refer to the
accommodation facility database 11 according to the accommodation
facility ID and acquire the accommodation facility location from
the accommodation facility database 11. When there is no input
concerning the scheduled check-in time and the scheduled check-out
time from the user, it is acceptable to refer to the accommodation
facility database 11 and acquire them from the accommodation
facility database 11. Further, it is also acceptable to acquire the
departure time and the arrival time from a flight database (not
shown) on the basis of the flight number.
[0042] As illustrated in FIG. 6, the tourism resource database 14
is stored (registered) with, for example, facility name, web page
URL of each facility (hereinafter, referred to as facility URL),
facility location (longitude and latitude, or the like), contents
(text data, images or the like) for each genre such as zoo,
recreation ground, museum, art gallery, historic site,
entertainment area and the like. It is also acceptable to include a
list of restaurants, a list of souvenir shops, and a list of
tourism facilities as genres and register the web page URL where
each list is published, the facility location (longitude and
latitude, or the like), list contents (shop name or the like) in
the tourism resource database 14.
[0043] As illustrated in FIG. 7, the advertisement database 15 is
stored (registered) with advertisement name, advertisement ID, web
page URL managed by each advertiser (hereinafter, referred to as
advertisement URL), location (longitude and latitude, or the like),
distribution conditions such as distribution area or distribution
time zone, advertisement contents (text data, images or the like),
bid price (unit price) for determining publication order, and the
like for each genre such as a restaurant, a souvenir shop, a
tourism facility or the like. The data registered in the
advertisement database 15 is generated by the advertisement server
6 to be described hereinafter. There are two types of bid prices in
the data registered in the advertisement database 15. One of which
is the publication fee of advertisement contained in the first
e-mail which is firstly distributed to a user desired for
advertisement. The other one of which is the publication fee of
advertisement contained in the second e-mail which is distributed
to the user after the user have responded to the first e-mail which
is initially distributed to the user desired for advertisement. It
is also acceptable to bill the advertiser when there is a
click-through in place of the publication fee.
[0044] The system control section 9 retrieves various programs
stored in the storing section 8 and executes the retrieved
programs, and thereby, controls each section disposed in the
advertisement distribution device 1 and functions as the travel
reservation server 4, the travel support server 5 and the
advertisement server 6. As illustrated in FIG. 2, when functioning
as the travel support server 5, the system control section 9 is
provided with a tourism resource information extraction unit 17, an
embedded URL generation unit 18, a first e-mail generation unit 19
and a first e-mail distribution unit 20; when functioning as the
advertisement server 6, it is provided with a user specification
unit 21, an advertisement information extraction unit 22, a second
e-mail generation unit 23 and a second e-mail distribution unit 24.
In the present embodiment, the first e-mail and the second e-mail
are distributed separately by the respective e-mail sending unit
(not shown), or are distributed collectively by a mail server
disposed independent from the advertisement distribution device
1.
[0045] The operations of the travel support server 5 and the
advertisement server 6 will be described hereinafter. Prior to the
operations thereof, data is registered in the advertisement
database 15, the user information database 12 and the reservation
information database 13. Specifically, when a piece of
advertisement is input from the advertiser terminal device 3-k
connected through the network, the advertisement server 6 registers
the advertisement information provided from the advertiser terminal
device 3-k in the advertisement database 15 (advertisement
information registration step). Moreover, the travel reservation
server 4 extracts a plurality of reservable accommodation
facilities (accommodation facility information) from the
accommodation facility database 11 and provides the extracted
accommodation facilities to the user terminal device 2-k via the
network NW. The user operates the user terminal device 2-k to make
selections from the accommodation facilities provided from the
accommodation facility database 11, and performs the reservation.
After receiving the travel reservation operation from the user, the
travel reservation server 4 extracts the user information and
generates the reservation information associated with the user
(travel reservation step). In the present embodiment, although a
database in association with transportation is not shown, the
travel reservation server 4 works together with a system for
reserving transportation via such as air planes or railways to set
a travel schedule containing transportation, that is, the travel
reservation server 4 generates the aforementioned reservation
record 16 illustrated in FIG. 5. Subsequently, the generated
reservation record 16 is registered in the reservation information
database 13 (reservation information registration step).
[0046] After the registration of data in the reservation
information database 13, the travel schedule of the user can be
referred from the reservation information database 13. Thus, as
illustrated in FIG. 8, firstly, at STEP 1, the travel support
server 5 acquires the user traveling in the travel destination at a
specified time (or date) and the position information of the user
from the reservation information database 13. Herein, whether or
not the user is moving actually is ignored, the travel support
server 5 acquires the user and the position information thereof
according to the data stored in the reservation information
database 13. The position information denotes the position of the
user at a predefined time specified from the travel schedule
contained in the reservation information. The timing for acquiring
the position information is triggered at a time prior to the
predefined time. Specifically, for each record illustrated in FIG.
5, when the time stored in the column of arrival time or check-in
for outward journey is within a predefined interval (for example,
within three hours), the information related to the longitude and
the latitude is acquired for each user ID.
[0047] Subsequently, at STEP 2, the tourism resource information
extraction unit 17, on the basis of the user position specified at
the predefined time, extracts the tourism resource information
associated with the user position and acquires the facility URL of
the tourism resource from the tourism resource database 14 (tourism
resource extraction step). Thereafter, at STEP 3, the embedded URL
generation unit 18 generates the embedded URL (embedded URL
generation step). The embedded URL is generated by adding a direct
function (transfer function) to the facility URL acquired by the
tourism resource information extraction unit 17 and building
therein the user ID (user identification information) of the user
acquired from the reservation information database 13. It is
preferable to encode the user ID built in the embedded URL. In
addition to the user ID, it is also acceptable that a device
characteristic number or a subscriber number of a mobile phone is
acquired with reference to the user information database 12 as the
user identification information and the device characteristic
number or the subscriber number is encoded and is built into the
embedded URL. The embedded URL may be generated by using special
application software or by using a CGI mounted in the travel
support server 5. An example of the embedded URL is given
below:
[0048] http://travel.com/redirect?100100?http://abc-zoo.net
[0049] "http://travel.com" in the embedded URL allocates a server
where a transaction is firstly established by the user terminal
device. In the present embodiment, it refers to the URL of a site
running in the advertisement distribution device. The description
of "redirect" is related to "redirect" in the server; however, it
is not limited thereto, it may be an arbitrary description which
can be recognized by the advertisement distribution device as
"redirect". The description of "100100" refers to the user ID of
the user who has sent the e-mail. In the abovementioned example,
the user ID is not encoded; however, it would be encoded in
practical use. "http://abc-zoo.net" is the site URL of a tourism
resource.
[0050] Thereafter, at STEP 4, the first e-mail is generated by the
first e-mail generation unit 19 (first e-mail generation step).
Herein, the first e-mail generation unit 19 generates the first
e-mail with the link function to the embedded URL built in the text
(facility name of the tourism resource or guidance text or the
like) or an image contained in the body of the e-mail. At STEP 5,
the first e-mail distribution unit 20 acquires the e-mail address
of the user from the user information database 12, and distributes
the first e-mail to the user terminal device 2 of the user at STEP
6 (first e-mail distribution step). In addition to putting an
embedded URL in the body of the first e-mail, a piece of
advertisement may also be published in the body of the first
e-mail.
[0051] The user receives the first e-mail from the user terminal
device 2-k such as a mobile phone in the travel destination.
Although it is possible that the user may cancel the scheduled
travel, change or joining another agency to travel differently from
the scheduled travel, the first e-mail is distributed with
reference to the reservation information database 13.
[0052] Since the first e-mail is distributed according to the
travel schedule of the user, it corresponds to the actions of the
user. When the link function of the first e-mail is selected by the
user at STEP 7, the user terminal device 2-k sends a
request-to-send to the target page of the embedded URL via a web
browser (STEP 8). The advertisement distribution device 1 receives
the request to the page of a tourism resource site such as
"http://abc-zoo.net" from the user terminal device. Meanwhile, the
advertisement distribution device 1 acquires the redirect
information and the user ID contained in the embedded URL from the
user terminal device. Thereby, at STEP 9, the user specification
unit 21 of the advertisement server 6 specifies the user with
reference to the user information database 12 on the basis of the
user ID in the embedded URL (user specification step). After the
user has been specified, the advertisement server 6 sets a flag in
the flag area of the reservation record 16 (refer to FIG. 5) in the
reservation information database 13 at STEP 10. The flag denotes
the following meanings: (1) the user is using the user terminal
device 2-k; (2) the user is in an environment where the user
terminal device 2-k such as a mobile phone can be used; (3) the
user is acting according to the schedule; and (4) the user has
interest in the tourism resource on the target page.
[0053] Subsequently, the advertisement distribution device 1
performs redirecting transaction based on the redirect function of
the embedded URL (STEP 11) and sends the facility URL to the user
terminal device 2-k (STEP 12). In the user terminal device 2-k
which has received the facility URL, a request-to-send treatment is
performed by the web browser thereof (STEP 13), and a
request-to-send is sent to a web server 25 running for the facility
(STEP 14). Accordingly, at STEP 15, a web page is sent to the user
terminal device 2-k from the web server 25 running for the
facility, and at STEP 16, the web page is displayed on the user
terminal device 2-k.
[0054] Thereafter, the advertisement distribution device 1 acquires
the information genre (property), the tourism resource, restaurants
and the like which are desired by the user with reference to the
reservation information database 14. Then, the advertisement
distribution device 1 takes the genre related to the tourism
resource in which the user has interest or the location information
close to the tourism resource in which the user has interest as a
condition, at STEP 17, the advertisement information extraction
unit 22 of the advertisement server 6 extracts the advertisement
information to be provided to the specified user from the
advertisement database 15 (advertisement information extraction
step). For example, for a user having interest in a zoo,
advertisement information related to a tourism facility and a
souvenir shop having location information geographically close to
the zoo, both of which are stored in the advertisement database 15,
is extracted. Then, at STEP 18, the second e-mail published with
the extracted advertisement information is generated by the second
e-mail generation unit 23 (second e-mail generation step). In the
body of the second e-mail, a text (advertised facility name or
guidance text or the like) or an image may be published, or the URL
of a web page managed by the advertiser may be included. At STEP
19, the e-mail address of the user is acquired from the user
information database 12, and at STEP 20, the second e-mail is
distributed by the second e-mail distribution unit 24 to the user
terminal device 2-k (second e-mail distribution step).
[0055] Thereby, according to the response of the user to the first
e-mail, (1) the user is using the user terminal device; (2) the
user is in an environment where the user terminal device such as a
mobile phone can be used; (3) the user is acting according to the
schedule; and (4) the user has interest in the tourism resource on
the target page can be confirmed, thus, the user will respond
better when a further e-mail is sent, which makes the refinement of
information which should be provided to the user easily and
certainly, and accordingly, the optimum information to the user can
be provided by the second e-mail. Consequently, the user can obtain
information meeting the needs thereof effectively, and the
advertiser can have the CTR of an advertisement improved.
[0056] In the abovementioned embodiment, it is described that the
travel reservation server 4 is disposed to register the user
information in the user information database 12 in travel
reservation and to register the travel reservation information in
the reservation information database 13 so as to acquire the user
information and the travel reservation information associated with
the travel reservation server 4; however, it is possible to acquire
the user information and the travel reservation information
preliminarily via the user terminal device 2-k by the travel
support server 5 or the advertisement server 6 if the travel
reservation server 4 is not disposed.
[0057] Moreover, information registered (stored) in each of the
database 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 is not limited to those given in
the abovementioned embodiment, it can be changed or added
appropriately.
INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY
[0058] As mentioned in the above, the advertisement distribution
system, the advertisement distribution device and the advertisement
distribution method of the present invention which can provide
well-refined useful advertisement information to a user traveling
in a travel destination can be adopted preferably in any
advertisement service using a network.
* * * * *
References